Land Without Freedom
by le.clarius
Summary: He wanted his freedom since centuries. Yet, he couldn't have it. An early fic for Indonesia independence day. OC Male!Indonesia.


**LAND WITHOUT FREEDOM**

Disclaimer: Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya

Warning: OC Male!Indonesia. OOC maybe.

I made this for my country's independence day (August 17th). Please enjoy.

. . .

Freedom.

That single word had a vast influence on him. It was everything Indonesia dreamed of. Liberty. Independence. So that he could escape the fate he had. He never wanted to be a colony of all time. But that was what he found himself was—a colony of stronger nations. Always like that.

And being a colony meant that he couldn't have his freedom. Nusantara, firstly a beautiful country, crude emerald of equator—now turned a land without freedom. Things he could do were limited. His land, his people, politic and economic—everything ruled by no other than that man. Netherlands. He was an egoist liar, Indonesia would say.

He had promised to Indonesia, that if he handled his government, everything would be alright. Yet, anything was never seemed alright for the young nation. While Netherlands was not paying attention, dark eyes often fixed at him, reflecting hatred for what he had been done to his people. But he never could bring himself to hate the man completely—he was still his caretaker.

The European never told him what had happened outside the big house, but he knew. He wasn't a little boy anymore. He could felt it. That his people craved for freedom—out of cruel imperialism, that his economy stumbled from monopoly, that his land bearing too much from cultuurstelsel.

Cultuurstelsel… (1)

A single word, but made him sick. It shouldn't be called like that anymore. The term just a mask to cover it, to make it sounded smoother—but never lessened the crude truth. Practically it was a torture, a dirty way he used to earn lots of wealthy. And Indonesia had been never angrier before when he saw it uncovered in front of his very eyes. His land, his people… It was too much for the Asian.

"Indië (2), have you cooked?"

He knew that tone—and the name Netherlands gave him. Indonesia snapped from his daydreaming and straightened in his seat. The footsteps grew louder until the older man's figure appeared beside him. Indonesia scowled while fixing his eyes at the table, didn't dare to face the other man.

"Have you cooked, Netherlandsch-Indië?" Netherlands repeated, lowering his tone.

"No. You can make it yourself, can't you?" Indonesia quickly replied.

"It's your duty, Indië. And if you don't do your duty…"

"…I will be punished," Indonesia continued, still scowling.

"Right. I'm glad you have understood. So, will you cook now?" he asked. But Indonesia knew it was barely a question, or a request. It was a command.

Muttering incomprehensible words under his breath, Indonesia stood from his seat and strolled to the kitchen. He sighed and started cooking while letting his mind drifted again.

He had spent too much time under Netherlands. Was it a century? No. Definitely more than a century. Maybe two? Or was it three centuries already? He shook his head. He had grown under the Dutch's harsh discipline. And he grew bored.

He wanted his freedom.

He had wanted it since a long time. But he never got even a single chance to feel it. He already tried to fight. But everything he had never enough to bring him what he wanted. Was he had lesser driving force to that man? No. It wasn't about that. Netherlands was stronger than him, and also more experienced on combat. Whenever he tried to fight, he always lost to the taller nation.

And so, freedom became an illusion to him. A kind of dream which always came to haunt his every single night, but unreachable. Whenever it came approaching, it would always escape—loosed from his grasp.

He grew desperate as time passed. It was too much for the young nation. He felt weak. Completely useless. He couldn't save his people. He couldn't do anything for the country he represented. Hell, he even couldn't save his self from imperialism!

Already he spent time like an eternity under Netherlands while wondering if he would be like this forever—if he would end just as a colony. He was always in doubt whether he would be better than what he was now.

Yet, he refused giving in his dream. Desperately hold onto it, kept it still in his sight.

Freedom.

Only one word, but meant everything for him. Like an invisible encouragement, to keep him going on.

He would wait. He would wait until he got what he wanted—that freedom. His independence. He would wait, even if another eternity of imperialism was needed.

But would that eternity end? And if it would, when?

A single teardrop fell down the young nation's cheek. His shoulder started trembling as silent sobs escaping his mouth. He hated Netherlands for what he had done with his people. He hated himself for being weak, for not being able to stand against Netherlands. Whenever he brought himself against his caretaker, the young nation always felt bad—and yet, he felt like doing the right things. He wanted to apologize to all of his people who had believed him. He wanted to be strong, even stronger than Netherlands so he could bring freedom to his people. But deep inside, he didn't want to hurt the man that had taken care of him all the time.

A pair of green orbs was fixed on Indonesia, unknowingly to him. Deep and concerned while seeing the young nation trembled from behind. Netherlands often saw him like that—crying silently. But he left a moment later before made Indonesia acknowledging his presence.

The young nation heard light footsteps leaving, instantly stopping him from crying. Furiously he rubbed his wet cheeks, erasing all trace of distress. He didn't want Netherlands saw him like this, on moment of his weakness.

Finishing his cooking, Indonesia quickly brought it to the other room where Netherlands waited and put it down in front of him. Netherlands lifted a single eyebrow.

"What? Can't you cook another thing beside rice and tempe (3)?" he asked with slightly annoyed tone, seeing what Indonesia cooked.

"If you don't want, you don't have to eat it. It's not every day I got rice."

Indonesia didn't wait for Netherlands to reply. He walked to his bedroom and laid himself on his bed which looked worn out and like never been cleaned. He sighed as he draped one of his hands to cover his eyes.

_When will this end? Duh Gusti, please give me strength._ (4)

. . .

The young nation woke up on the next day because of knocking on his door. Indonesia rubbed his eyes, omitting his remaining slumber. He stood up quickly and left his bedroom. The house was unsurprisingly empty, since Netherlands always left on early morning.

But his mind wondered on the door. Who would came to his house of all people? Maybe it was Netherlands' subordinate, he thought.

He was slightly surprised when he opened his door. A young man with black hair and dark eyes—just like his, stood politely. Indonesia blinked and threw a questioned look.

"Good morning, To Indo-san (5). I'm Japan. From now, I'll replace Netherlands-san on controlling your government." (6)

He blinked again. So, he wasn't Netherlands' colony anymore? And this young man looked like him. He must be an Asian too, the Indonesian thought. Maybe this Japan was better than Netherlands.

. . .

August 17th 1945

Aside from his polite manners, Japan was not really better than Netherlands. Indonesia knew it was because he was on the middle of world war. So Japan must needed large supports for his army. But Japan lost the war and signed the treaty just a few days ago. Netherlands hadn't come back yet. Indonesia was left all alone now. There wouldn't a chance like this for second time. (7)

"Proklamasi." (8)

The young nation could felt his heart hammering loudly inside his rib as Soekarno started reading the text in his hand (9). He still couldn't believe that he really get his freedom. This was what he had craved for centuries. Independence. So, was it how freedom really tasted? Exactly like what he had been dreamt before.

Nusantara wasn't land without freedom anymore. And this wasn't the end. Instead it was the beginning for him, The Republic of Indonesia.

((owari))

…And some facts here, mostly historical, to make some points clear.

(1) _Cultuurstelsel_ or Cultivation System in English. It's a policy that requiring portion of agricultural devoted to export crops, like coffee, sugar cane, and indigo. 20% of a village's land had to be used for this purpose and Netherlands' government would buy the crops with settled price. Villagers had to work 75 days a year on this field, as a kind of tax. But the policy didn't work. Practically, they used all of the land and the people had to work a full year. The man that spoke this idea, named Van den Bosch, awarded Graaf title by Netherlands' king since this system brought wealthy for Netherlands.

(2) The Dutch came to Indonesia—at that time still called Nusantara—around 1596. Then they called it _Netherlandsch-Indië_, or "Dutch East Indies" in English. For three and a half centuries, it was Netherlands' colony (with few years under England before returned to Netherlands).

(3) _Tempe _or_ tempeh_, an Indonesian food made of fermented soybean. It originated from Java on earlier century. On pre-independence era, Indonesian often consumed it because it was cheap, since poverty degree was high. But it's still very popular this day. Because of its high nutritional value, vegetarians often deemed it as substitute for meat. While rice was very rare back then, and most of them consumed cassava to substitute it.

(4) _Duh Gusti_ in Javanese, one of local dialects, equal of "Oh my God". There are a lot of local dialects in Indonesia, but Indonesian is the national language. I figure Indonesia must be a Javanese. If I said, Java is his vital region. And he still didn't have his national language yet at that time.

(5) _To Indo_ is "East India" in Japanese. It was what Japanese called Indonesia on that moment.

(6) Japanese came to Indonesia at January 11th 1942 on the purpose of getting sources for supporting their army on WW 2, replacing the Dutch. Japan's government did a lot of propaganda, including the promise of independence and things about the Asian's elder brother, so that Indonesia would support them on the war. Also, many Indonesians got military training and sent to the battle field as backing for their army.

(7) When Japan lost the war to Allied Forces, the agreement was Indonesia would be returned to Netherlands, as well as became England's responsibility. But before the Dutch came back, Indonesia had declared independence.

(8) _Proklamasi_, Indonesian for Proclamation.

(9) Soekarno declared Indonesia independence on August 17th 1945, not waiting for Japan's government which promised it on August 24th, because some young men had forced him to declared independence soon. He became the first president of Indonesia.

So, that's it. Please leave something. Sorry if I make Indonesia looked… pessimistic. Forgive my poor English—I'm not a native. Correction is welcomed. Reviews are highly appreciated.

-gk


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